A man lifts up the bark of a tree with a small stick and watches a bug crawl onto it. Hearing birds squawking, he looks up to see vultures hovering over another part of the woods close-by. He deposits the bug inside a glass casing alongside other live bugs, then closes the lid and locks the attache case that it is in. Picking up his backpack as well, he makes his way over to the site. Vultures peck at a dead warthog.

Robert Torrence : Get away! Shoo! Get away, shoo!

He waves the vultures off and kneels down next to the dead animal. Many small bugs of the same species crawl over the carcass and there are huge boils on the animal, signifying some sort of disease. He puts on his rubber gloves. The doctor squeezes at a huge, pulsating boil, which pops and sprays it's pus all over the doctor's face. The doctor gasps in shock, then spits some out of his mouth and wipes his face. Taking off his glasses, he opens his bag and collects a few of the bugs for analysis. Later, at nightfall, he uses his transmitter radio.

Robert Torrence : R.B.P. field base, come in. [Static. He presses down on the button again.] Field base, come in, please. [More static leaks through, so he tries again.] This is Doctor Robert Torrence with the biodiversity project... requesting immediate evacuation from Sector Z-one-five. This is a medical emergency. Please respond. [His face and neck is covered with the same boils as the warthog had been covered with in the spots that the pus hit him.] I repeat... Doctor Robert Torrence... biodiversity project. Immediate evacuation from Sector Z-one-five.

They run in the direction of the squawking and find vultures leaning over another body. They shoot in the air to scare them off. They look down at the carcass of Robert Torrence, whose face has been horrible ripped apart and has the same pulsating boils, covered with the same bugs.

He opens it up and finds a bloodied newspaper. He unrolls it to find a dead warthog leg. He grunts, drops it and kicks it across the room, then starts yelling out through the hole.

Bobby Torrence : Hey, Winston! You think this is funny? What kind of crap you trying to pull here? Get this thing out of my crib! Winston! Winston! Winston!

Nobody hears his screams. Time passes, and Bobby lays on his bed, unable to sleep. He hears a slurping noise and looks over at the warhog leg sitting in the brightened corner of the room. A boil pulsates, about to burst. Gasping in a sort of terror, he stares at it. Later, in the med lab, two doctors in containment suits look over Bobby, who has the same disease now.

Osbourne : When was he exposed?

Simon Auerbach : Eighteen hours ago.

Osbourne : I've never heard of anything incubating so quickly.

Bobby Torrence : Where's the prison doc? I want to see the prison doc...

Scully : We don't know why we've been sent here. Maybe if we talked to the warden or someone...

Tapia : Well, no one's here. The prison's been taken over by the national guard. They closed off most of the facility.

Scully : Why?

Tapia : I don't know why. The federal marshal's business isn't in here, it's out there, trying to catch those two convicts.

Everyone walks out except for the two agents.

Mulder : Where did this case originate, Scully?

Scully : It came out of Skinner's office.

Mulder : Did he say why he gave it to us?

Scully : No, why?

Mulder : Well, this isn't the type of thing the F.B.I. normally gets called in on. I got a feeling we're not being told the entire story here.

Scully : I've got the same feeling, Mulder.

Mulder looks back at the room with the containment-suited doctors.

Mulder : Do you think you could get in there and find out what's going on?

Scully : I can try. Where are you going?

Mulder : To see if I can get in the way.

He walks out past an armed guard.

Scene 4Rest Stop; Virginia

A camper pulls up and the typical American family unloads.

Man : Hey, you girls go with Mom. See you in a few minutes.

While the two daughters run off with their mother to the bathroom, the father walks into the men's lavatory. As he walks in, Paul steps down from the toilet and opens up the stall. The women of the family run out of the bathroom to see their camper driving off.

Scully : You work for the Centers for Disease Control? What are you doing here? [Osbourne sighs and starts off. Scully bangs on the door.] Sir! I'm a medical doctor. I want to know what's going on here. [He turns back. She bangs on the door again.] Sir, if you don't let me in, a lot of people in Washington are going to find out that you're conducting a secret quarantine in here.

Osbourne unlocks the door, opens it slightly, and looks at her.

Osbourne : I'm under strict orders.

Scully : So am I.

She pushes past him, opening the door. She walks rapidly down the hall, him trying to keep up.

Osbourne : All I can tell you is that there is a flu-like illness spreading among some of the prisoners.

Scully : How many people are infected?

Osbourne : Fourteen men so far.

Scully : Any deaths?

Osbourne : Ten of the fourteen.

She stops and looks at him, amazed.

Scully : What are the chances the men who escaped are infected?

He looks at her, then starts down the hall. She gasps and follows.

Scene 6Rest Stop; Virginia

Mulder walks past many government officials from the federal marshal's office. The woman sobs in the background. Mulder's cellular phone rings and he answers it.

Mulder : Mulder.

Cut to Scully, who is standing outside a room where doctors are tending to the patients.

Scully : Mulder, it's me. I'm starting to get a picture of what's going on here.

Cut to Mulder, who walks around towards the bathroom.

Mulder : What did you find?

Scully : There seems to be some kind of... [Cut back to Scully.] ...deadly contagion sweeping the lockdown population.

Mulder : Deadly? How deadly?

Scully looks at an infected man inside a thick glass casing being wheeled in by another man in a containment suit.

Scully : Well, from what I've seen so far, thirty-six hours after infection, deadly.

Cut to Mulder.

Mulder : Well, is there a chance any of the escaped men were infected?

Cut back to Scully.

Scully : The exact nature of this thing... [Cut back to Mulder, who starts towards the bathroom again.] ...or how it is spread is unclear. So is their exposure to it and any danger they might pose.

Mulder : I'd say these guys are a danger in any event. [He looks down at the body of the father, whose face is ripped open. A pool of blood rests under his head.] Call me as soon as you know anything.

He hangs up.

Cut to Scully, who does the same. Auerbach walks up to her, followed by Osbourne.

Simon Auerbach : I don't care who you are or what your business is, I want you out of here right now.

Scully : Not until I get some answers.

Simon Auerbach : You're in violation of federal statutes.

Scully : I'm a federal agent, sir.

Simon Auerbach Who were you on the phone to?

Scully : To my partner, who needs to know if the men he's pursuing are infected.

Simon Auerbach : That information is unavailable.

Scully : Well, then I want to see charts and I want access to the infirmary.

Simon Auerbach : You see what I let you see.

He storms off. Osbourne looks at her for a second, then follows his colleague. Scully looks over at a medical table and takes some rubber gloves and a doctor's mask.

Scene 7Gas Station; Virginia

The camper is being pumped full of gas. The cashier checks his watch and reads his magazine. Cut to the house of a woman named Elizabeth, who cradles her young son and picks up the phone as it rings.

Elizabeth : Hello?

Cut to Paul, who stands at a payphone outside the gas station.

Paul : I'm free, baby.

Cut to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth : Paul?

Paul : Listen, I'm gonna...

Elizabeth : Where are you?

Cut to Paul.

Paul : I'm coming home.

Cut back to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth : What are you talking about?

Cut to Paul.

Paul : I'm coming to get you.

Cut to Elizabeth, who smiles and nearly laughs.

Elizabeth : What? What?

The cashier, Angelo Garza looks at the camper nervously and walks outside. He peeks into the driver's seat.

Angelo Garza : Yo! Anybody in here? [He walks around a little and looks in again. He goes over to the bathroom and knocks on the door.] Hello? [A man groans inside. The cashier walks in and sees Steve lying on the floor in pain, a giant pustule on his cheek.)]Hey, man... you okay? [The cashier kneels down and looks at him.] You look messed up!

Steve walks up behind him quietly. He raises up a makeshift weapon and the cashier turns around, gasping.

Scully peeks through the small window on the door to the incinerator room and then walks inside. Scully puts on her rubber gloves and walks slowly around to a pile of bodies in bags, putting on her protective doctor's garb. Inside a bag labeled "001 - Torrence" sits the dead body of Bobby Torrence. She opens up the bag with a knife. Suddenly, Osbourne grabs her arm and spins her around. She screams in fright.

Osbourne : You can't be down here!

He tries to close the bag.

Scully : I need to know what these men are dying from. You said this was some kind of flu-like illness. What are these?

She pulls off her mask.

Osbourne : Please! Please! These bodies should not be exposed.

Scully : Do all of the victims have these boils? [He pushes her away, but she walks right back up to him.] You're burning the bodies, why? [A boil explodes on Torrence's face, covering Osbourne with it's contents. He gasps in horror and runs out of the room and down the hall. Scully runs after him.] Doctor Osbourne, wait!

Scene 9Gas Station; Virginia; Morning.

The birds chirp and all is relatively peaceful. The sign swings gently in the wind. The gas pump nozzle still sits in the camper. The silence is broken by three blue cars speeding into the area and screeching to a halt, surrounding the area. The marshals exit their cars, cocking their shotguns and slowly move in on the camper. Other officials surround the camper, aiming handguns. Mulder runs by. The main store is canvassed as well by the authority figures. The camper door swings open and a man runs in, pointing his gun.

Man : Freeze! Hands in the air! Freeze! [Searching the camper, he finds it is empty. He swings open the bathroom door as other men make their way into the camper.] Freeze! Clear.

Mulder bursts the bathroom door open to see the attendant in pain on the ground, struggling to get up due to his head wound.

Mulder : We've got a man down! He's alive. [Tapia tries to work a soft drink machine as Mulder walks up to him.] The attendant's name is Angelo Garza. He took a nice crack to the head but he's talking.

They start walking, followed by other officials.

Tapia : Yeah, well, he's lucky they didn't kill him.

Mulder : Kid's got a lot of hair, probably absorbed the blow. He found one of the men in pain on the bathroom floor with a large boil on his face. [They stop.] There's a contagion at the prison, these men could be infected.

Tapia looks at one of his deputies.

Tapia : Get on the horn, see what anybody knows about that. [They walk up to two men standing by a map on the car hood.] All right, they took the kid's keys, they got in the safe. They got money, the kid's car, possibly a firearm and they got a big head start.

Mulder : Any idea where they're headed?

Tapia : There are twenty-three possible roads and thoroughfares.

Mulder looks around.

Mulder : Either of these guys got a girlfriend, you know?

Tapia : I wish I could tell you but those records are locked up in the prison. Unless we can access them, this is Smokey and the Bandit.

Mulder : Well, if they had girlfriends, they'd probably try to call them. You think of that?

Mulder walks up to the payphone and presses zero. It rings.

Operator : Bell Atlantic Operator, how may I help you?

Mulder : I'm a federal agent assisting in a manhunt for two escaped prisoners. My badge number is J-T-T-o-four-seven-one-o-one-one-one-one. I need to know the last call made from this booth.

Operator : All right, sir...

Her voice is overpowered by the helicopter landing on the field next to the payphone.

Mulder : Can you repeat that, please? [The operator says it again as Tapia and other officials start towards the copter.] All right, thank you.

He hangs up and looks at four containment-suited men running towards Garza with a thick glass casing. They burst into the bathroom and put the man into the casing. Tapia runs to them, screaming over the helicopter blades.

Tapia : What's going on here? Hey, what are you guys doing here? What the hell is going on here? [The men ignore him and start back to the helicopter as Garza bangs on the sides frantically, screaming.] Who authorized this? Hey!

Mulder runs up to a clean-suited man, who pushes him away.

Mulder : What's going on here, what's going on?

Angelo Garza : Where are they taking me? Help!

Mulder : Who are you?

The last man closes the door to the helicopter and they fly off.

Tapia : Hey! Did you order this?

Mulder : No!

Tapia : Then who the hell did?

Mulder : I don't know, but there was a call made from that phone booth about two hours bago. I got an address and phone number from Dinwittie County.

He hands Tapia a notepad, which reads:

"925 August St. 555-6936"

Scene 10925 August St.

Paul and Steve drive up, honking their horn. Elizabeth runs out the door excitedly and puts her son down.

Elizabeth : Wait here, sweetie. Be right back. [She looks at Paul as he gets out of the car.] I thought you were B.S.ing me!

Paul : I'm gone, sweet thing! [She gasps as he runs up to her and hugs her tightly.] They ain't never taking me back.

Elizabeth : I ain't going to let them.

They kiss.

Boy : Mommy! Mommy!

Elizabeth : I'm coming, sweetie! Daddy's home. Come on.

She tries to pull him into the house but he leads her back to the car.

Paul : I got somebody with me.

Elizabeth : What? [He opens the door as Steve groans, boils over a good portion of his face. Elizabeth looks at him in disgust.] What's wrong with him?

Scully is on the cellular phone in the incinerator room, carrying the package and pacing. Bobby's head is still exposed.

Scully : Yes, I'm trying to trace the origin of a package that was sent to Robert Torrence at the Cumberland State Correctional Facilit in Virginia. Y, yeah. The packaging number is D-D-P-one-one-two-one-four-eight. Sure, I'll hold. [She waits.] Yeah. [A man talks on the other end.] The package was sent from Wichita, Kansas? Did you record the name of the sender? [He tells her something.] Could you check that again, please? [More talking.] Thank you.

She hangs up and dials another number. Cut to Mulder, who is sitting in the passanger seat of a car. His phone rings and he takes it out.

Mulder : Yeah.

Cut to Scully.

Scully : What do you know about Pinck Pharmaceuticals?

Cut back to Mulder.

Mulder : Uh, it's one of, if not the biggest manufacturer of drugs in America. Why?

Cut to Scully.

Scully : They sent a package to a prisoner here who may have been the first victim of the contagion.

Cut to Mulder.

Mulder : Any idea what was in the package?

Scully : No, it's empty.

He leans back and thinks.

Mulder : Scully, from the description we got, one of the prisoners had a large, purple-ish inflammation on his face.

Cut to Scully.

Scully : That sounds like what I'm finding on all the victims in here. Do you know what that means, Mulder?

Cut back to Mulder.

Mulder : Yeah, it could spread. I, I, I need to know more about it. [Cut back to Scully.] How it's transmitted.

Scully : I'm on it.

She hangs up and looks at the body. She notices something inside the popped boil and pulls out her tweezers. After pulling down her mask, she reaches into the boil and pulls out one of the bugs that had been transmitting the disease before.

The boil pops, spraying it's diseased pus all over her face. She tries to wipe it off and runs into the bathroom, her son watching her.

Elizabeth : Ahh! Paul! Ahh! Oh! [She desperately tries to wash off the spray on her face, rubbing water all over her face rapidly then drying quickly. She runs into the main room.] Paul! Paul! Paul!

The door is kicked open by marshals. She screams as they surround her, all screaming at once. She gets down on the ground at their orders, which are illegible, mingled in with so many others. They cuff her as her son cries. Mulder walks out of the bedroom over to Tapia, who has his gun trained on Elizabeth like the rest of them.

Mulder : We've got one dead prisoner in the bedroom. The other one's gone.

Scully watches through the window of the door to the medical room as Garza is brought over, lying in his glass casing. Osbourne walks up to her and puts his hand on her shoulder.

Osbourne : Come with me.

Scully : Why? What's going on?

Osbourne : Just come with me.

They walk off to a separate medical lab. He closes the door.

Scully : What the hell is going on?

Osbourne pulls down the right part of his shirt slightly to reveal a huge boil gestating underneath.

Osbourne : I've been infected and they're not letting me out. The entire prison's been quarantined.

Scully : By who, the C.D.C.?

Osbourne : The C.D.C. has nothing to do with this. [He walks away a little, Scully watching him intently.] It's the company. They're behind everything.

Scully : Pinck Pharmaceuticals. You work for Pinck Pharmaceuticals? [He nods.] How did this happen?

Osbourne : We finance exploration of new species from the rain forest with potential drug applications. Three months ago, a field entomologist disappeared in Costa Rica.

Scully : Disappeared how?

Osbourne : We're not sure. He just sent us some samples of an insect.

Scully : Like this? [She pulls out a capsule with the bug inside.] I found this buried in one of the dead prisoners.

He takes it.

Osbourne : Faciphaga Emasculata. We were interested in it because of the dilating enzyme it secretes.

She holds it up.

Scully : Is this what caused the outbreak?

Osbourne : No, no, not precisely. [He sits down in front of a microscope.] The F. Emasculata is a parasitoid, a bug that carries a parasite. In this case, a deadly parasite that attacks the immune system. The pustules are part of the natural reproductive cycle. They're full of the larvae that you see there in the scope.

She looks through and sees tiny larvae crawling around.

Scully : So the contagion only spreads when the pustules erupt and the larvae that are expelled burrow into the new host.

She looks at him.

Osbourne : Agent Scully... you were there when the pustule erupted on me... which means you may also be infected.

Mulder looks over to a darkened part of the room where a lamp partly illuminates the shadowy figure of the Cigarette-Smoking Man, who sits at a chair. He lights a cigarette. Mulder's eyes widen in realization. He looks at Skinner briefly then walks over to the shadowy man.

Mulder : That Agent Scully and I were sent on this manhunt without knowledge of the existence or nature of a contagion.

Cigarette-Smoking Man : What is the exact nature of the contagion?

Mulder : It's deadly. It kills within thirty-six hours. One escaped convict was infected. He's dead now. The other man may be infected and he's on the loose.

Mulder No, we just know that over a dozen men have died from it and it appears to be highly contagious.

Cigarette-Smoking Man : Then you don't know much, Agent Mulder.

Mulder : Why weren't we told the truth?

Cigarette-Smoking Man : We didn't know the truth. What we knew would only have slowed you down.

Mulder : But innocent people could be infected! What you knew could have prevented that.

Cigarette-Smoking Man : How? [Mulder tries to say something but the Cigarette-Smoking Man cuts him off.] In 1988, there was an outbreak of hemmoragic fever in Sacramento, California. The truth would have caused panic. Panic would have cost lives. We controlled the disease by controlling the information.

Mulder : You can't protect the public by lying to them.

Cigarette-Smoking Man : It's done every day.

Mulder : I won't be a party to it. [Mulder starts out, looking at Skinner.] How about you?

Cigarette-Smoking Man : You're a party to it already. [Mulder stops.] How many people are being infected while you stand here, not doing your job? [Mulder turns around.] Ten? Twenty? What's the truth, Agent Mulder?

Mulder glares at Skinner briefly and walks out, slamming the door. Mulder walks to his car but the seatbelt won't work. As much as he pulls, it won't move so he throws it back in anger. The phone rings and he picks it up.

Mulder : Mulder.

Cut to Scully as Osbourne prepares some tests in the back.

Scully : Mulder, they're enforcing a full quarantine.

Cut to Mulder, who switches ears and speaks forcefully.

Mulder : What?

Cut back to Scully.

Scully : One of the epidimiologists who claimed to be with the C.D.C. told me that this was no accident. [Cut back to Mulder.] Pinck Pharmaceuticals is here trying to clean it up quietly... [Cut back to Scully.] ...and the government would have to know about it.

Cut to Mulder.

Mulder : Do you have proof of that?

Cut to Scully.

Scully : Why else would the national guard be here? [Cut back to Mulder.] They're protecting Pinck Pharmacuetical.

Mulder : Okay, listen, Scully. I need to know how this happened. I want you to start documenting everything you can get your hands on. [Cut back to Scully.] People have to know about the cover-up.

Scully : The public?

Cut back to Mulder.

Mulder : It's a public health crisis.

Cut back to Scully.

Scully : Mulder, we can't leak this, not until we know more. [Cut to Mulder.] The fugitive that you're looking for... [Cut back to Scully.] He might not even be infected.

Cut to Mulder.

Mulder : Yeah, but what if he is?

Scully : If this gets out... [Cut to Scully.] ...prematurely, the panic is going to spread faster than the contagion. Mulder, we can't let this be known.

Cut to Mulder.

Mulder : What if someone dies because we witheld what we knew?

Cut to Scully.

Scully : What if someone dies because we didn't? [Cut back to Mulder.] There'll be a time for the truth, Mulder, but this isn't it.

Mulder sighs.

Mulder : Are you okay in there, Scully?

Cut to Scully, who tenses up.

Scully : Yeah. I'm okay. All I want you to worry about is capturing that fugitive. [Cut to Mulder.] Take care of yourself, Mulder.

They hang up.

Cut to Scully, who turns around and watches Osbourne put the specimen of Faciphaga Emasculata into a small plastic casing. Taking off her coat, she sits down.

Osbourne : If you're not infected, you should leave immediately.

Scully : And if I am?

He looks at her for a second, then looks away.

Osbourne : The parasite is undetectable in the bloodstream. This is the only way to test whether or not you've been infected. [He puts a small casing onto her arm and puts the bug inside, the bottom open so the bug may crawl around on her skin.] These uninfected insects act as incubators. [He tapes it down.] Now, the insect's bite won't infect you. The contagion can only be contracted through exposure to the larvae.

Scully : How long will this take?

Osbourne : Thirty minutes... and another two hours before the parasite reproduces enough for us to see it.

She breathes heavily, looking down at the insect as it begins to lay it's eggs.

Scene 15Dinwiddie County Hospital

Elizabeth sits in a confined chamber. On all sides of the chamber are windows. Mulder stands on one side.

Mulder : Elizabeth? My name is Fox Mulder, I'm with the F.B.I. Where did Paul go, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth : I don't know.

Mulder : I think you do know. [He sits down across from her.] And I think you know why you're in here. How are you feeling?

Elizabeth : I'm fine.

Mulder nods.

Mulder : Steve felt fine too. Didn't take long for that to change.

Elizabeth : You're just trying to scare me.

Mulder : You should be scared. If I were you, I'd be scared.

Elizabeth : You're lying!

Mulder : No, Paul is the one who is lying and if he's infected, a lot of people are going to die.

Elizabeth : If that's true, how come it's not on TV? How come they're not telling everybody?

Mulder : That's not my decision.

Elizabeth : Well, whose decision is it? You knew about it and you didn't say anything! Why should I tell the truth if you won't?

Mulder : Elizabeth, Paul is out there somewhere. I have to find him. Now, you can help me... or not. [She looks at him, smirking. A few minutes later, Mulder rushes out of the room past Tapia, who walks with him.] He's on a ten o'clock bus to Toronto, she was supposed to be with him.

Tapia : That bus depot's over a half-hour from here, even doing ninety. [He turns to one of his officers.] Get on that phone with the local P.D., I want every man they've got!

Mulder stops him.

Mulder : No! No, they don't know what they're dealing with. If he's infected, he could spread it. What we need know is control.

Mulder and Tapia start off.

Scene 16Bus Depot

The woman at the ticket desk is rightfully nervous at the hacking, coughing sickly man in front of her.

Woman : Toronto, one way?

Paul : Yes.

She tries not to stare at the boil on his face but can't help herself. He notices her stare and turns away, towards the people in back of him.

Osbourne falls to the floor. Scully kneels down beside him, trying to help. As she lifts his head off the ground, she notices that the boil on his neck is incredibly huge now.

Osbourne : The toxins... they're moving into my brain just like it did on the prisoners. I don't have much longer. I need you to help me.

Scully : What do you want me to do?

He gasps for air and struggles to his feet. Later, down the hall, Osbourne is in a glass casing.

Osbourne : Go on. You have to complete the test.

Scully : Why did you confide in me?

Osbourne : It's not a secret I feel like taking to the grave. People have a right to know the danger we've put them in. If your test comes back negative... you have to tell them.

Scully : How can I prove it?

Osbourne : I don't know. But if you don't... it'll just happen again. Don't believe for a second... that this is an isolated incident.

She stares at him as the respirator wheezes. Back in the private lab, Scully continues tests on the bug, harvesting the blood that it drew out of her. She puts a few drops down on a microscope slide and places it under the microscope. She pauses, hoping desperately, before looking into the scope. Her eyes scan through her goggles for a moment, then she pulls off the goggles and mask, breathing heavily. She sighs in relief. Walking out into the hallway excitedly, she finds that Osbourne is gone.

Scene 18Bus Depot

A young boy runs through the terminal, his mother giving chase.

Annoucer : Attention please, bus number nine...

Mother : Will you wait a second?

Boy : I don't want to miss the bus.

The boy runs over to the side of a train with a sign over it that reads "Gate 20; Toronto" and puts his bag down.

Mother : You see that? They're still loading the luggage, you're not missing anything. [The boy runs over to the door.] You have enough time to give your mother a kiss goodbye. [He looks around and gives his mom a kiss on the cheek. She reciprocates. He is about to rush off when she grabs his wrist and holds up the ticket.] Wait. Ticket. [He takes it, both of them laughing. He boards the bus.] Be careful! Say hi to Uncle Jake!

They wave to each other. The boy makes his way to the back when a hand grabs his arm.

Boy : Hey!

He looks at the sickly Paul, whose boil is now incredibly large, about ready to pop.

Doctor Auerbach opens the door to the incinerator. Men start to load the bodies in. Scully walks in as the first body is deposited into the incinerator.

Scully : What are you doing?

Simon Auerbach : This material has been confiscated and will be destroyed according to standard C.D.C. procedure.

Scully : You don't work for the C.D.C. (He looks at her, smirking.) Where's Doctor Osbourne? [He looks down at the floor briefly and looks away. She looks down at the nearest bag, which has a label that reads "017 - Osbourne." Osbourne is the next body to be thrown into the incinerator as she looks on in horror.] He told me what happened here.

Simon Auerbach : What happened here was unavoidable.

Scully : Well, we'll leave that up to others to decide.

Simon Auerbach : Doctor Osbourne is dead. No one in this room will corroborate your story. Just be glad this thing's under control.

The last body loaded, a man shuts the door as the bodies burn inside, erasing all trace of the disease.

Scene 20Bus Depot

Mulder and company pull up and walk inside. They fan out, searching the rows of people for Paul. Finding no sight of him, Mulder goes to the ticket woman. Tapia scans the next room until Mulder walks up to him.

Scully : He's alive? Mulder, listen to me. Everything here has been destroyed. [Cut to Mulder.] Any evidence whatsoever of a cover-up has been incinerated. That prisoner is the last man who can possibly connect the conspirators.

Mulder : But he's infected. He's going to die.

Cut back to Scully.

Scully : If you want the truth, Mulder, he's going to have to make a statement.

Cut to Mulder as he pulls the phone away from his ear. The name of the destination on the sign of the bus shifts from Thunder Bay to Toronto. Marshals walk around in the back and climb out of other buses. People unload off the other buses as all of Tapia's men start to gain strategic positions. Tapia, in the doorway, waves the people out. Mulder walks up to him.

Mulder : There are other passangers on board. The prisoner sees a uniform, he could panic. He panics and innocent people die.

Tapia : What do you want to do?

Mulder : I get on the bus, I take the seat directly behind the prisoner, I put my gun to his head, I make an announcement to clear the bus.

Tapia smiles a little and tilts his head as if to say "it could work." On the bus, the boy plays his pocket video game machine as Mulder gets on the bus and gives the driver his ticket.

Bus Driver : Thank you. [Mulder surveys the bus and finds that Paul is nowhere to be seen.] Can you take your seat, sir?

Mulder : There's supposed to be a man on the bus.

Bus Driver : Sir, I've got a schedule to keep. Now, please, take your seat or I'm going to have to ask you to get off.

Mulder sits in the seat directly behind the driver and leans forward.

Mulder : Take the key out of the ignition and turn around slowly.

He does so as Mulder shows him his badge.

Bus Driver : What is this?

Mulder : I'm with the F.B.I. I need to know if this man has boarded the bus.

He shows him a picture of Paul, making sure to keep both it and his badge away from the eyes of people behind him.

Bus Driver : Yeah. [He looks back and sees Paul walking out of the bathroom, coughing and wheezing.] That's him. Right back there.

He points to Paul. Paul looks at Mulder, looking ragged and sick, and comes to a quick realization. He draws his gun and Mulder reacts quickly, standing and drawing his gun.

Mulder : Federal agent! Drop your weapon!

The people on the bus scream. Paul picks up the young boy and sits down in his seat, putting the boy on his lap. The boy's face is directly next to the boil, which looks ready to pop. Tapia watches the melee from the adjacent bus. He pulls out his walkie-talkie.

Tapia : Plan A has gone to hell. Get ready to move, people.

Mulder keeps his gun trained on Paul, who is more frightened than anything else.

Mulder : Let the boy go!

Paul : Move the damn bus!

Mulder : You got over two dozen U.S. marshalls out there, Paul. How far you gonna get?

Paul looks out his window and sees snipers trained on him from all angles. He gasps, breathing heavily.

Paul : I'm dying, ain't I?

Mulder : The question is, how many people are you going to take with you?

Paul : What is this thing?

Mulder : You were infected in prison.

Paul smiles and sighs, almost laughing.

Paul : It's what Bobby Torrence had.

Mulder : And your girlfriend Elizabeth and possibly your son. [He slowly inches towards him.] How many more people do you want to expose?

Paul : It came from that package in Bobby's cell, didn't it?

Mulder : You saw a package?

Paul nods lightly, on the verge of tears. The boy is surprisingly calm.

Paul : What the hell was it?

He coughs, his boil starting to pulsate slightly.

Mulder : All right, everybody, off the bus. [The people start to file out.] Just keep going. Just go. Keep moving! [The people are all off the bus. Mulder looks at the boy.] All right, come on out. It's okay. Come on out, just slide out. I'm here for you. [Paul releases his grip on the boy.] That's it. [Paul gasps and pushes the boy out. The boy runs out.] All right. [Paul chokes and gasps, his boil throbbing.] All right, Paul, what was in that package? [Paul seems unable to breathe, much less talk.] What was in that package? A pharmaceutical company was using you as a guinea pig! If you tell me what was in that package, I'll make sure they don't get away with it! Come on, Paul, you remember. Tell me!

Paul : It... it...

Paul is about to tell Mulder when a shot rings out. The glass shatters next to Paul as Mulder looks on in horror. Paul slumps over, dead. Smoke fills the air outside.

Man #1 : Get out of there!

Man #2 : Keep your distance!

Two clean-suited men rush on the bus and take Mulder off.

Man #1 : You have to get off, let's go! Get off!

The sniper sits in the adjacent bus, his face clouded in smoke.

Scene 21FBI Headquarters; Washington, D.C.

Skinner looks at the small, last specimen of Faciphaga Emasculata in a capsule. It is dead.

Mulder : Robert Torrence was patient zero, the first prisoner to contract the disease. Just before being admitted to the infirmary, he received a package from Pinck Pharmaceuticals. They orchestrated this entire thing to circumvent years of F.D.A. trials in order to get their drug on the market.

Skinner puts the capsule down.

Skinner : Why are you telling me this, Agent Mulder?

Mulder : Because I wanted you to hear it from me before you read it in the papers.

Skinner : And you're going to prove this elaborate conspiracy with a, an empty package and a dead insect? Leave it alone, Agent Mulder. The epidemic was contained.

Mulder : Eighteen people are dead, and if you're helping them cover the truth behind those deaths, then you're just as guilty as they are.

Skinner : You really have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?

Mulder : I thought I was dealing with you.

There is a knock on the door and Scully walks in.

Scully : We can't prove a thing, Mulder. They've made sure of it.

She walks over to him.

Mulder : What are you talking about?

Scully : The Costa Rican government just faxed me the report on the missing scientist. [She hands him a folder.] His name is Robert Torrence, the same as our prisoner. It was their failsafe in case it ever came to this so they could blame it on a simple postal error. A mistake.

Mulder, reading over the contents of the folder, laughs.

Mulder : That's why we were given this assignment, right? They knew all along... so that even if we succeeded in finding the truth, we'd be discredited as part of it. Am I right? [Skinner just stares at him.] Am I right?!

Skinner : You never had a chance, Agent Mulder. For every step you take, they're three steps ahead.

Mulder : Well, what about you, where do you stand?

Skinner : I stand right on the line that you keep crossing.

Mulder shakes his head slightly in disgust.

Scully : Come on, let's go.

They start out.

Skinner : Agent Mulder. [Scully opens the door as they turn around and look at him with great disdain.] I'm saying this as a friend. Watch your back. This is just the beginning.

Mulder and Scully walk out. Skinner stares at the door for a second, then at the last remaining trace of the epidemic, Faciphaga Emasculata.